I use Twitter as a commonplace note: https://t.co/vPr6DeA0d4 CTO In Sales • Homeschooling dad Building @siteaudittools & @thoughttonote
@reach2mahen I wrote another thread on our journey about homeschooling here: I will keep tweeting here about homeschooling. Feel free to follow me.
@reach2mahen In October 2021, we started homeschooling our kids. I think it is the best decision I have taken so far with respect to kids' education. Kids have learned so much in this short period. You can see for yourself the growth in their YouTube channel:
Then I had a podcast interview with @reach2mahen who homeschooled his two kids for 9 years. That was a big big boost to my confidence. Later we visited their house and spoke to the family and kids. It cleared all our doubts.
Pros • Learning framework I followed • Conviction that I can provide a better education since resources are accessible over the inet • Their enthusiasm
They wanted to do more of what I was teaching them, less of what they were learning in school. I started weighing pros & cons of homeschooling for MY kids. My doubts: • can I shoulder that responsibility? • what if something happens to me?
Then Covid hit. I tried to engage them with storytelling, teaching them to create videos, and other activities. You can read all that we did together when covid started: They were still attending online school at that time.
They still went to school. I tried augumenting their schooling, though many times thought of homeschooling. But kids enjoyed their school. So didn't distrub them.
I applied the same framework to my kids. I read them books I gave them books to read I told them stories We played storytelling as sons & father I noticed they were picking up storytelling skills faster. I wrote about my experience here:
In the mean time, for my personal growth, I designed a learning framework: • Consume - learn from others • Produce - learn by doing • Engage - learn by sharing & listening It served me really well. I blogged about it here:
Still I kept researching and taking notes on everything to do with homeschooling. Three TED talks convinced me that "schools are not the great way to learn for kids" Those three TED talks are:
Like many I speak to now, I too thought that homeschooling will impact kid's social life. I thought without join families homeschooling is not possible.
@TEDTalks @keepkwizing @GravitasWins If you've read this long thread, thank you. I'm planning to tweet, blog, and share whatever I know. If you have any questions, please ask. Will answer them.
@TEDTalks @keepkwizing @GravitasWins I got same questions again and again. So I blogged about our experience here. I am planning to blog our journey as we go along. As they say, covid accelerated digital transformation. It is true at least in our case ;-)
@TEDTalks @keepkwizing @GravitasWins Kids enjoyed because all the subjects were what they wanted to learn. • Music • Computer games • Sitting around sharing stories Slowly it caught on. Kids enjoyed. I started talking about it to all.
@TEDTalks @keepkwizing @GravitasWins Initial days, I struggled to make a roadmap for them. But we decided to take it slow. Slow is smooth and smooth is fast. We started experimenting for one quarter.
@TEDTalks @keepkwizing @GravitasWins We talked a lot. My wife and kids started to show interest in homeschooling. Mahen was very supportive in giving out all the answers for every questions we had. Then in Oct 2021 we took the decision to stop sending kids to school and start homeschooling.
@TEDTalks @keepkwizing @GravitasWins My wife and kids were not convinced. In the mean time, kids were strugging paying attention to online classes because of covid. Still they didn't want to stop schooling. What if.. What if.. What if.. So many questions and hesitations. I was convinced. But didn't push them
@TEDTalks @keepkwizing I spoke to the dad - Mahendran. We talked at length asking about every detail. I spoke to my wife & kids. They had ton of questions. I spoke to Mahendran again. There were so many questions. I ended up interviewing Mahen for @gravitaswins podcast:
@TEDTalks So I started searching seriously about homeschooling in India. But I didn't get any useful resources. So everything went as usual. Then, @keepkwizing introduced me to a family which homeschooled their 2 kids for 9 years.
@TEDTalks They showed interest in games, music, and stories. But they are not part of the curriculum. They are extra-curricular activities! Their ranks went down. They were disappointed on two counts: • their ranks are going down • they are not learning what they enjoy
@TEDTalks I sent them to school. Surprisingly they didn't cry any day. So I sent them. Teachers were good. Kids enjoyed school. Everything was going good. As the elder one went to 5th and subjects turned tough, he started asking why he has to learn those subjects. I had no answers.
@TEDTalks At that time, it was only about bonding with the boys. We have only 12 summers with kids. I decided to spend those years teaching them stories (from our lives and others). We used to play a version of "whose line is it anyway". Kids loved the improv form of story telling.
@TEDTalks When my boys were born, I took a paycut, moved to a quiet town (Panchkula), worked 3 days a week and spent rest of the time with the kids. Initially, it was not about homeschooling, but spending time with kids and training them IN ADDITION to school.
@TEDTalks Major points from these talks: SG: our schooling was set for industrial age KR: we have no clue what will be needed in 20 years when kids come out of school SM: Kids can learn themselves if we give them the tools In short, we are training our kids wrong.
@divanshuarora Thank you
@divanshuarora where can I read about this more Divanshu?
@PeeKayPedia You are alien Khurana ji ;-)
@rohitawasthi @ulhas_sm @_swanand Thanks Rohit for the tweet. @ulhas_sm : I have been writing about my experience and sharing here too. May be these will help to start • why - • how - • FAQs -
@Dita1413 @AnnieThomaz @netshrink @sumanthraman @maheshperi The more I read all these, the more I'm convinced about my @FamilyIsSchool experiment for my boys.
Bullets = low-cost, low-risk, low-distraction experiments Cannonball = concentrating resources into a big bet without validating the underlying need Fire bullets first before cannonball
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The idea of “fire bullets, then cannonballs” was developed by Jim Collins in his book Great by Choice. It is a fantastic way to test your ideas before investing big.
Best selling authors, like James Clear, test their ideas first as series of tweets, then as blog posts before writing books. Buffer the million $ SAAS company started as a greeting page before becoming a profitable business.
Comedians test their jokes before small crowd before going to large audience. Like Chris Rock tests his jokes rigorously before getting onto HBO special or David Letterman show or even hosting Oscar.
Fire bullets first. Bullet = low-cost, low-risk, low-distraction experiments. If your experiement doesn't hit the target but you still believe in the idea, calibrate and hit again. If the line of sight is clear, fire a cannonball. If experiment fails, move on to next target.
cannonball = concentrating resources into a big bet without validating underlying need Firing cannonballs first happens even today. Companies develop a product / service in secret. Then launch to a flop show. What is a better way?
@dorait Thank you Dorai
Do the right things and legacy builds itself.
Be flexible in your management style. As market cycle changes change your style.
Play to employees strengths & not weakness. Put round pegs in round holes & square pegs in square holes.
A leader should be able to communicate their vision clearly. Employees should says, “yea this is where I need to be or where I want to be”
Having a short & long term vision is a must for leader. Leaders should create multiple scenarios since market cycles are shorter.
In the future people will have multiple careers. People will have to learn, unlearn, and relearn.
@rishabh_grg Any good literature digs deeper into human psychology, which is needed to build products that resonates with users. Reading literature will also expose one to the shades of human character, which is what product mgrs call as "user personas".
@1pulkitsaini We bring that into corporate too. Sitting in a chair for 8 hours is considered working 😳
@NicolasHoferer @YellowVisuals When you know there are different types of luck you can prepare for it
